Posted by Matt | Posted in Politics | Posted on 20-09-2010
Tags: coalition, cuts, green new deal, Politics
The coalition government has been accused of being ideologically obsessed with shrinking the size of the state, at whatever the social costs. Whilst they maintain that the current and future cuts are unavoidable; there is no alternative, they say. Who is right?
According to Charles Moore, writing in The Telegraph (18/09/10), the cuts planned to welfare, schools, health and police are far more drastic than those by Margaret Thatcher in 1979. According to Cabinet ministers that he has spoken to in private, “they are full of zeal both for cuts and for reform, but they don’t like to say so in public.”
This seems to confirm the belief many have that the speed and size of the cuts is politically driven. Hence, it is a matter for political debate.
We need to be challenging the government to prove that the damage these cuts will inevitably do to society are justified, whilst offering viable alternatives.
A clear alternative is to cut the deficit much more slowly. Another is to alter the balance of deficit reduction, away from cuts and towards raising more money through a fairer tax system and reducing tax avoidance. Currently the split is 20% tax, 80% cuts. Another is through investing in areas that badly need it and that create jobs, such as the Green New Deal that would move us towards a low carbon economy, by investing in renewables, insulating homes, etc.
Rather than a zeal for cuts, we need a zeal for fairness and a better way of coping with the current economic situation.
